Chapter 2 #2
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a wave of pride shoot through me. “Before I begin those tasks, can you please tell me where I can get you some coffee?”
He held up his hand. “We need to set some ground rules. First, it’s Caleb, please.
Secondly, I love your enthusiasm to help, but I don’t want you thinking that I expect you to do every little thing for me.
Your job is to be my right-hand woman and handle the nitty-gritty. I can take care of feeding myself.”
“Yes, Sir.”
His eyes darkened, and he met my gaze with an intensity that made my palms start to sweat. The moment passed, and he walked over to his desk and set down his briefcase. Then he returned to the entryway to hang up his coat by the door.
“Let me take your jacket,” he said, holding his hand out.
I couldn’t help but notice how large his hand was. I imagined how it’d feel against my ass as he punished me for some mistake I made. A shiver went through my body, and I had to remind myself to focus.
“Thank you,” I said, walking over and handing it to him. I had to give the man props. I respected that he didn’t expect me to act like his nanny. It was refreshing.
“You’re welcome. Okay, so let me go grab the other table. Then we can go over some things.”
“That sounds great.”
He nodded and walked out of the room.
Mr. McDuffie—Caleb, as he requested I call him—came back with the table a couple of minutes later. He insisted on helping me position it where I wanted it. After that, he helped me link my computer to the printer by his desk.
“What would you like me to help with next?” I asked eagerly.
“I’d like to go over some basics with you. Let's sit,” he said, gesturing toward his desk.
Reaching into my purse, I grabbed my notebook and pen, then walked over and sat down in the same spot I had three weeks ago. He did the same.
“First, I like to start the day off with a meeting to go over my schedule. This will allow me to tell you the projects I’m working on so you can stay up to date, and go over all the customers and suppliers I’ll be in contact with.
I expect you to familiarize yourself with all of them.
You’ll be in charge of most of the communications with them and setting up appointments as needed. ”
I jotted down what he said. “Okay.”
“This will also be the time when I give you any tasks to work on and the deadlines for completing them.”
I nodded and continued writing.
“How familiar are you with Outlook?”
“Very.”
“Good. We use that as our main program for tracking tasks, scheduling appointments, emails, etcetera. The IT department has assured me that you have an account set up. All you have to do is log in to put the final touches on it. I’ll text you the email and initial password you’ll need to get in.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
The dark, intense look flashed across his face again. It made me squirm in my seat as I imagined him directing that same gaze toward me as he hovered over me, ready to insert his hard cock into my soaking wet pussy.
What the fuck? Where the hell did that image come from? He was my boss, and this was my first day. How could I be imagining us having sex? Sure, I could picture him spanking me, but that was because it was in the realm of things that could happen. But he wasn’t going to make love to me.
“Theresa?”
I looked up to see Caleb’s lips pressed together and his eyes narrowed slightly. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” I answered, my response coming out a little shakily. No man had ever affected me like this before, and he hadn’t even touched me.
“I’d like for you to pay attention and answer me if I ask you a question,” he said in a firmer tone.
“Question?” I stammered.
“Are you ready to start the day? I think I’ve given you enough to begin with, unless you want more.”
“No, Sir. This is good,” I said, standing up.
I took a couple of steps toward my desk when he called my name again. “Theresa?”
“Yes?” I asked, turning to face him.
“Not paying attention to when I’m speaking to you is a great way to end up with a sore bottom. I wouldn’t want you to start off with one on your first day.”
“No, Sir,” I responded as my insides squirmed. So much for having a good first day. My boss was already having to remind me what would happen if I made a mistake.
“All right. Please let me know if you have any questions or need assistance at all. I’ll text you right now so you can set up Outlook.”
“Thank you, Sir,” I said as I hurried over to my desk to start tackling my first assignment.
I had just finished setting up my Outlook account and personalizing my computer when a slender brunette wearing a tight black dress and matching stiletto heels marched into our office.
“Hi, Mr. McDuffie. I have the latest customer survey reports you had asked for,” she said in a breathy voice. She walked over to his desk and held them out.
“Thank you,” he said, taking them. “I thought my email was clear; you could’ve sent these to my new assistant, Theresa, electronically.”
“It was, but what fun would that have been? You know getting to see you is always the highlight of my day.” She giggled like a schoolgirl and batted her eyelashes.
It took all my energy not to laugh. Someone was crushing on the boss hard.
“Plus,” she added, turning toward me, “I wanted to meet your new assistant.” She smiled, and it sent a shiver up my back. It reminded me of Jack Nicholson’s smile from The Shining.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” I said, standing up and holding out my hand. She took it, and I hid the wince from the bit of pain I felt from her firm handshake.
“It’s nice to meet you as well. Theresa, right?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful to meet you. I’m Grace, I work in the customer relations department.”
“Good to know. If I ever need help with a customer, I’ll make sure to contact you.”
“Yes, please do so. I know how daunting starting out in a new place can be, especially when you have to learn all the clients’ information. Some of them can be very particular.”
“Thanks,” I responded with a tight smile.
“Well, I’ll get back to work. It was nice meeting you,” she said, giving me a once-over with her eyes. “Mr. McDuffie,” she added, turning back to face him, “I hope you have a wonderful day.”
“Bye, Grace,” he responded without looking up from his computer.
She left the room, and I sat back down. I wondered why the receptionist hadn’t announced that Grace was stopping by. I shrugged my shoulders. Not my problem.
Now that I had everything set up, I got to work familiarizing myself with his calendar.
It felt heavenly to walk into my condo later that evening. Minus the one slip-up I had in the morning, everything else had gone smoothly. I was able to set up my Outlook account and start reviewing all of our suppliers and customers.
At ten-thirty, Caleb announced he was leaving for a meeting and, if all went well, would be back around three.
At lunch time, Gretchen, the blonde receptionist outside Caleb’s office, invited me to eat with her in the cafeteria.
She was nice. We started by talking about work, but I soon discovered she was a bit of a nerd, like me.
We discussed the new Star Wars show expected to come out this summer and speculated what the producers had planned.
She seemed pretty easygoing, so I asked her about Grace. Gretchen chuckled. She’d been in the bathroom when Grace stopped by. I got the feeling that this wasn’t the first time that something like this had occurred, which confirmed my theory that Grace had a crush on Caleb.
I worried that Grace might try to make my job harder so she could look better in our boss’s eyes. Thankfully, Gretchen said that Grace was harmless and was apparently very nice. I didn’t want to dislike any of my coworkers, so I decided I’d give her the benefit of the doubt.
Our lunch hour ended sooner than I wanted, and we had to go upstairs and get back to work. True to his word, Caleb returned by three. He was in a decent mood. He told me it was because one of his bigger clients was getting ready to close on a sale.
Before I knew it, five o’clock hit, and it was time to go home.
Caleb invited me out for a celebratory drink to mark the completion of my first day, but I politely declined.
The last thing I needed was to add liquor to the mix after the thoughts I had about my boss this morning.
Plus, I was mentally drained from everything I had learned.
It was a bit warmer on my walk home, even though it was dark outside. It never truly felt dark with all of the city lights, storefronts, and headlights illuminating the area. Still, I was counting the days until we got to turn our clocks forward. I couldn’t wait to be done with winter.
By the time I got home, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I lounged on my loveseat and took a deep breath. I had a lot to learn, but I was off to a good start.